Dharamshala, 26th November: Is there a new Covid 19 variant? which is thought to be 40 percent resistant to jabs? There seems to be a new variety every day. Scientists are growing increasingly concerned about a new COVID-19 variant originating in Southern Africa, which forced countries such as the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, and Germany to effectively halt travel from the region on Thursday and Friday. Botswana is thought to be the origin of the variation B.1.1.529.
A traveler who had recently flown from South Africa was confirmed to be infected with the variation, and then infected another person while staying in the same hotel, quarantining the case. The variety, which the World Health Organization is expected to call ‘Nu’ in the coming days, has caused an ‘exponential’ surge in infections in South Africa.
Initial evidence from the variation was concerning, according to Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, and border controls should be implemented. Botswana has four verified instances, South Africa has 77 – with the true number likely in the hundreds – and Hong Kong has two, for a total of 83 confirmed cases of the variation.
Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands joined the United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore in restricting travel from South Africa, and the European Union is considering prohibiting travel from the country and its neighbors in a show of growing concern.
South Africa’s infection rate increased by 93% in a single day Wednesday, raising suspicions that the strain is to blame. Local experts believe it has spread to all nine provinces of the country, but there has yet to see an increase in hospitalizations in the epicenter of the outbreak, Johannesburg.
Sajid Javid, Britain’s health secretary, raised the alarm on Thursday about the ‘worst-ever super-mutant COVID strain, according to one senior scientific advisor in the UK. He claimed that it might reduce vaccine effectiveness by at least 40% and that as a result, flights from South Africa and five other regional nations have been stopped.
All information gathered from dailymail.co.uk